then does, senator lautenberg staff in attendance, they took the opportunity, senates from montana and michigan to come and tour the area because we are very concerned about senator -- scheduled 0 come and plan to but weather delayed to him. we have republicans and democrats with the eyes on the disasters. one of the reasons we are here today, however, to make sure that the federal government through the small business administration is doing everything in the power to assist the thousands of small businesses that have been hurt in this national disaster. by and large, the federal response has been robust to hurricane sandy. more than 500,000 people have registered for temporary houses and individual assistance, fema, there on the ground right away as provided over 15 million meals, 20 million leaders of water, -- liters of water, 1.7 million blankets and 135,000 tarps. dodd has delivered 9.3 million gasoline and 270 million gallons of salt water have been pumped out of transit tunnels. there have been over 17,000 personnel and 15,000 national gassermen. i want to thank the first responders fro